Somebody You Have To Let In
by Artemis J. Halk
Summary: There's something off about Nick, and Judy is determined to get to the bottom of it. However, the place that she finds Nick is the last place that she would have expected to find him.
So I've seen a lot of fics where Judy takes Nick to visit her family, and either Nick's mother/parents are dead or gone, or just not mentioned at all. So it got me thinking: Nick should take Judy to see his mom. Except... it's not what she was expecting.

Of course, I also don't know why the entire fandom seems to have jumped onto this idea that she's dead, but okay then. Expect to see something else from me, probably in the near future, about how she's very much alive and well, and the proudest momma for Nick having joined the force.

This has not been proof read, so please let me know if you spot any errors so that I can fix them!

* * *

"Hey Nick," Judy said as she bounced over to him. "It's not often that we both have days off together. Let's do something."

"Sorry, can't," Nick said as he shuffled paperwork around on his desk. "I've got other plans. Next time, though? Promise."

"Oh… Alright," Judy said slowly. She was a little put out because they always tried to hang out whenever their days off overlapped.

She went back to her desk, but continued to watch Nick until their shift was over. There was just something very off about him right now, but she just couldn't put her paw on it. He did some paperwork, like usual. He joked with their coworkers, like usual. He drank copious amounts of coffee, like usual.

But still, something felt very off about the entire thing, and no matter what Judy did, she couldn't help shake the feeling.

As she lay in bed that night, the thought occurred to her, "What if he's returned to his criminal ways? There's no way that I can stand by and let him do something illegal! Especially not after how hard that he's worked to go straight and to become a cop! I'm going to have to follow him tomorrow and find out exactly what it is that he's up to that doesn't involve me!"

She knew that it was sort of selfish of her to think that Nick couldn't possibly have plans that didn't somehow involve her. But she also couldn't sake the feeling. And after she thought of it, the more convinced she became that Nick was back to his old ways.

* * *

The next morning, Judy woke about an hour before dawn. On her days off, she normally liked to lounge in bed for as long as she could before her noisy neighbors drove her from bed. However, she had to get up early if she had any hope of catching Nick doing whatever it was that he was going to do today.

She felt foolish as she pulled on a cap and sun glasses outside of Nick's apartment building. If she found out that Nick really just did have other plans, such as to catch a movie with some of the other guys on the squad, then she'd go home and laugh about it.

She waited a good four hours before Nick came out. From his apartment, she followed him to the corner market around the corner from his building.

"Okay, just because he's buying perfectly normal things does not mean that he's not up to no good," Judy whispered to herself as she watched him through the front window of the shop.

He was in the store for about half an hour before he paid for everything and left the shop.

From there, Judy followed him to the other side of town. If he was meeting up with his old friends, this wasn't exactly the part of town where they liked to hang out. But maybe they were meeting on some site that they were going to case out? Or for some big con?

But at the same time, Judy couldn't also rule out that Nick was just going to meet some of the guys from work, either. Even though it was an odd area for Nick's criminal friends, it was also an odd area for most of their coworkers. After all, they all lived off of a cop's salary. But there were also some nice bars, a couple of movie theaters, some restaurants, that Nick could be going to.

However, Nick stopped at exactly none of those, and instead, stopped in a florist shop.

"Could he be headed towards a date?" Judy asked herself as she saw him leave a few minutes later swinging a bouquet of lilies. Judy felt a little awkward as she continued to follow after him, but after she'd wasted this much time following Nick, she was determined to see this through to the end.

They continued to walk for another couple of blocks, and then Nick turned and went in through the gates of the local cemetery.

The site of the beautiful, iron gate that spelled out "Zootopia Central Cemetery", the sprawling grounds dotted with grave markers of all sorts, gave Judy pause. This was a sacred space. She'd hoped that he would leave the dead alone, but he had the gall to start something in the middle of the cemetery?

Judy crossed the road and ducked into the cemetery. She'd lost site of Nick while she'd been contemplating the graveyard, but it was a big, open place, without mausoleums. If Nick tried to leave through the gate on the other side of the cemetery, she'd see him.

She ducked from grave stone to grave stone, trying to keep out of site, but also keeping an eye out for Nick.

Just when the dates on the stones started to become more recent, she heard his voice over the faint din of traffic. "…and I wanted to quit so many times. So much. But aside from Judy pushing me, the thought of how proud that you'd be is what spurred me on. Imagine it! The first fox cop!"

Curious, Judy tried to peek around the stone that she was crouched behind to see who Nick was talking to.

Nick let out a loud sigh. "Come on out, Judy. I know that you've been following me all day."

"S-shit!" Judy cursed under her breath as she stepped out from behind the stone. She offered him a sheepish smile. "Was I that obvious?"

"No, and I doubt that anybody else would have noticed you," Nick said as he pointed his glasses at her. "But you see, I knew that you were going to follow me, so I was on the look-out for you." From the bag that he'd brought with him from the grocery store, Nick pulled out a plastic cup and poured some soda. Then, he held it out to her. "Come here."

Judy stepped forward and accepted the cup from him. He'd set out a nice little picnic, including a blanket to sit on. "Judy, I'd like for you to meet my mother," Nick said as he gestured to the stone that he sat in front of.

Judy gasped in horror. She read the name engraved on the stone, Claudia Grace Redd-Wilde, then "May she find rest in the arms of God". The dates of her birth and death were after that.

"Oh my god, Nick. I am so sorry. I didn't mean to-" Judy started, but Nick silenced her with a paw.

"It's okay, Carrots. I…" He looked down at the lilies that he'd rested at the base of the grave. "I wanted for you to come and meet her. But… I… I wasn't quite sure how to bring up the subject." He gave her a sad look. "After all, I've meet all eight billion of your family, so… it just felt right that you'd meet my only known family."

"Oh Nick!" Judy set her cup down on the grass and closed the distance between them. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Nick was stiff at the contact at first, but then melted into her after a while. He rested his head on her shoulder heavily, and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I am your family now," she whispered as she gently stroked his head between his ears.

"Yes," Nick agreed as he pulled away. He reached for the bag of food and pulled out some pretzels. "Please, have some food." Nick kept his gaze pointed away from Judy, and she acted like she couldn't see the tears in his eyes.

Judy sat down and pulled a pawful of pretzels out from the bag. As she took a swallow of soda, she took a closer look at the date of Claudia's death. Nick would have been thirteen.

"Ah yes, I see that you've noticed when she died," Nick said around a mouthful of pretzel. "She was the reason why I started doing all of those shifty, less-than-legal things."

"What?" Judy asked as she looked to him sharply. "What do you mean?"

"I came home from school one day and found her sprawled out in the kitchen. Called for an ambulance. The doctors told me that she had a tumor the size of my fist in her brain. She told me that she'd been having episodes where she'd black out for a while, but she didn't… she didn't want for me to worry about her. Because I was struggling enough as it was."

"Oh my god, Nick," Judy whispered as tears gathered in her eyes.

"Of course, the doctors wanted to go in and remove the tumor, but the surgery was very expensive. Being a single mother in Zootopia, it was all that she could do to provide for the two of us. And of course, she couldn't work because she was in the hospital. So… I did what I had to do."

Judy understood that people did not go to a life of crime for fun. There was usually some sort of underlying cause to it all. A lack of after school programs to keep kids out of trouble, parents too busy or parents who didn't give enough attention or the wrong kind of attention to their kids… Judy had sort of guessed why Nick had gone over to that life, but she'd never asked. Nick was an exceptionally private person, and if he felt comfortable with telling her about why, then he would.

Never could she have guessed that it was all to help take care of his terminally ill mother.

Judging by what Nick has mentioned about his criminal enterprises and the date of Claudia's death, this story would not end well.

Judy looked to Nick, willing him to continue his story, but not wanting to pressure him if he wasn't ready. He still wasn't looking at her, his paw on the pretzel bag. He pressed down on the bag, and she heard the sharp crack of the snacks breaking.

A tear dropped down onto the plastic bag, followed by another, and a third one.

"It wasn't enough," he growled out. "It was never enough! I raised the money so that the doctors could preform the surgery, but she died anyway! WHAT EXACTLY IS THE POINT OF HAVING ALL OF THE MONEY IN THE WORLD IF MY MOM STILL DIED ANYWAY?!" He screamed the last part so fiercely that Judy flinched away from him because of the volume.

With a primal roar, Nick flung the pretzel bag away, sending smashed crumbs flying all over the lawn. Then he buried his face in his paws, and his shoulders shook with silent grief.

Judy scooted closer to him and lay a gentle paw on his shoulder. He flinched a little at the contact, but didn't move away from her touch.

After a moment, he seemed to have gathered himself. He pulled his paws away and rubbed his eyes with his arm.

"None of that was your fault, Nick," Judy told him gently.

Nick let out a shuddering breath, his gaze up at the cloudless sky. Then, he flung himself at Judy. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lay his head against her chest. She gently wrapped her arms around his shoulders and rested her head on top of his.

He pulled away after a moment, and then got up to pick up the pretzel bag. "These are my favorite kind of pretzels," he said rather forlornly.

"You bought other stuff though, right?" Judy said as she reached for the grocery bag.

"Yeah," Nick agreed as he sat back down.

* * *

They spent several hours by Claudia's grave. Nick told Judy stories of his mother; some had her in stitches while others moved her to tears.

"It's getting dark now, Carrots; we should head back," Nick said after a while. They silently started to pick up the trash from their little picnic. Then, they walked over to the gate.

"Thanks for telling me, Nick," Judy said as they stood in the shadow of the iron gate. She didn't look at him.

"I know that I've lived most of my life by the credence of 'don't ever let them see that they've gotten to you'…" Nick started. He trailed off, and looked up at the sky for a long moment. Then, he looked down at Judy, and smiled fondly at her until she looked up at him. "But I've learned that everybody needs to have somebody that they let in."

* * *

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